I’m going to be honest and say that Musikfest surprised me yesterday afternoon when, after announcing that morning that Steve Miller would be the first announced act at the new Sands Steel Stage main venue this year, they said a second headliner act would be announced Friday morning.

My choice for this morning's Musikfest announcement: Maroon 5

Then they issued a challenge to see whether I could find out who the artist was before they announced it – a reference to the fact that I scooped them on the Steve Miller announcement. They promised a pair of front row tickets for me to give away on the Lehigh Valley Music blog if I was successful.

I have to admit, it left me scrambling. All I knew was that the announcement will be made at 8 a.m. Friday by radio station WLEV-FM, 100.7. And later, on its Twitter account, Musikfest said the act is a little “younger” than Steve Miller.

That still left pretty big parameters. WLEV’s whole programming idea is variety. But it let me narrow it down a bit. It’s not likely a classic rocker – that would be announced by WODE-FM 99.9 The Hawk, as Miller was. It wouldn’t even be a current rocker, which likely would be announced by WZZO.

And if it was more pop, it would be announced by WAEB-FM, B-104.

So my idea was that we were looking at an act popular with the general listener – likely soft rock. Pretty current, but not likely at the very top right now.

That’s when I reached out to Lehigh Valley Music readers to help me research whom it might be. And you readers had some great suggestions.

A few suggested The Script, and I have to admit they were an early consideration of mine. And, frankly, on my wish list. The song “Breakeven” is a current obsession of mine. One reader even noted The Script will play The Mann Center in Philadelphia in June.

But those are some reasons why it won’t be The Script. The Mann has a capacity of almost 14,000 – almost twice that of the new 7,200-capacity Steel Stage. Plus, the band is from Ireland is unlikely to return to the northeast two months later.

But note to Musikfest: If you can get The Script, please do. Thanks.

Others suggested Train, which played Musikfest in 2006. The band is on the upswing again, having had a monster hit with “Hey Soul Sister.” They also are a good fit for WLEV. And they’re in the area during Musikfest, playing Pittsburgh on Aug. 6 and Lennox, Mass., on Aug. 8.

But Train just played The Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg in March and generally playing venues smaller than the Steel Stage.

A couple of others suggested Melissa Etheridge, who also played Musikfest in 2003 and 2006. Etheridge is touring now, and her music style fits. But three times in eight years is a bit much, even for Musikfest.

That leaves one suggestion that I also had thought of: Maroon 5.

The music fits WLEV. So does the size crowd for which they’ve been playing. They’re on tour this summer – they play in New York in June. And in 2008, they played with Counting Crows, who were headliners at Musikfest last year.

Maroon 5 has a good selections of hits – “This Love,” “She Will Be Loved” and “Makes Me Wonder” – and even had a No. 1 Adult Contemporary hit with “Misery” last year. And its most recent album, “Hands All Over,” hit No. 2 last year, but only has gone gold – unlike its last two multi-platinum discs.

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.